Jefferson City freshman Kiara Strayhorn didn't sneak up on anybody.
By the time she was 12 years old, she could leap 16 feet in the long jump. That's state track caliber.
"I knew about her," Jefferson City track and field coach Melvin Myers said. "She's a talented young lady who hasn't even gotten close to what she can do. She's one we kind of knew about. We expected big things from her coming into the year."
Strayhorn remains ahead of curve as a freshman at Jefferson City. She's seeded first today in the long jump after winning sectionals with a mark of 18 feet, 7 inches. Even that is a little misleading.
"There was a vicious head wind coming at us," Myers said. " She can clearly get back to her 19."
Strayhorn's personal best is 19-5, about a foot off former Nebraska All-American Leandra McGruder's school record.
The long jump, which begins at 9 a.m. today at the Class 5 state track and field championships at Battle High School in Columbia, is only the start of Strayhorn's day.
She'll run in the 100-meter hurdle preliminaries at 10 a.m. and compete in the high jump at noon. Strayhorn, who is seeded fourth (14.35 seconds), would also have the finals for the hurdles at noon if she advances.
Strayhorn is seeded first in the high jump at 5-5.
Running in four sprint events for the Lady Jays is sophomore Dijonay Dawson, who's seeded ninth in the 100-meter dash and 13th in the 200-meter dash.
"She's competing at a high level right now, so I hope it stays that way," Myers said.
The prelims for those events are at 10:20 a.m. and 10:40 a.m., respectively. The finals are 12:20 p.m. and 3:10 p.m.
"They did some things I probably wouldn't have done," Myers said about the schedule. " I probably would have split the 100 and 200 prelims up with the 4x800."
Dawson is also part of the 4x100- and 4x200-meter relay teams. Zaliah Dunbar, Lashawna Chambers, Rhakala Blackmon and Dawson will run the 4x200 at 12:50 p.m., while Dunbar, Ezinne Opara, Blackmon and Dawson will have the 4x100 at 1:50 p.m.
The 4x100 team is seeded eighth and the 4x200 is seeded ninth.
"It would be nice if our girls have a really good day," Myers said. "They can put some points up."
Like the Lady Jays, the Jays will be competing in seven events today.
Making his third and final appearance at the state meet is Devin Roberson, who eyes his second discus championship and first shot put title.
"I see him still grinding," Myers said. "I don't think he's satisfied with where he's at because he has the next level that he's trying to get to."
The future Missouri Tiger's seed mark in the discus is more than 16 feet better than the next best toss. And that throw of 199-0 is still well off his school record distance of 206-1.
"There was a big wind there so for me to throw almost 200, I was pretty stoked about it," Roberson said. "All that really mattered was to move on."
Roberson will have a different approach at 9 a.m. today. He continues to aim high with the goal of reaching 200 feet on all six throws and breaking the all-class record of 212-5.
"I'm pretty confident going in," Roberson said. "I've been pretty consistent over the week and I've just been building at distances at practices. I just have to put it all together."
Fellow senior Corey Suttle enters the discus seeded third at 166-3. He earned a state medal in the event last year with a seventh-place finish.
"Corey has been doing really well the past few weeks," Roberson said. "I think he's starting to really figure things out at the right time."
Both are also in the shot put, which begins at noon, with Roberson seeded second at 54-5 and Suttle fourth at 53-4.
North Kansas City's Adetomiwa Adebawore, who's seeded second in the discus, enters the shot put with the top throw of 59-5.75.
Roberson wants to reach the school record of about 61-7, which would also break the Class 5 record.
Roberson said he's just ready to finally get out there.
"I wouldn't say nervous, I would say anxious," he said. "I think nervous is a lack of preparation. Anxious is like I'm ready to go out there and do it. I've been ready since Week 1."
The Jays will have a third thrower in action today. Brendan Rozier, a junior, is making his first state meet appearance in the javelin, which starts at noon.
He's seeded ninth with a throw of 168-11.
"That's an event he's taken pride in," Myers said.
At 10:10 a.m., Andrew Dyer will run in the 110-meter hurdle prelims. Dyer enters the event with the 10th best seed time. The finals are scheduled for 12:10 p.m.
The 4x800 team of Thomas Nield, Deaken Walker, Andrew Nield and Ben Krause will run at 11:30 a.m. They are seeded 13th.
"I know they can run faster," Myers said. "I think we were just wanting to get here, so we could probably do some things to get faster in that one."
Running in the 1,600-meter run for the Jays will be Landon Dunlap, who is seeded 14th.
The final event for the Jays is the 800. Krause is the No. 13 seed.